There is considerable interest in enhancing surface guidance for aircraft. For example, after an aircraft lands on a runway at an airport, the next step is to taxi the aircraft to a desired destination such as a passenger-loading/unloading gate. A pilot can easily become confused or lost amid a number of runways, taxiways, ramps, and buildings that make up an airport. With airports becoming more crowded, aircraft often spend considerable time taxiing between runways and gates. Taxi time is even longer if the pilot makes a wrong turn, becomes lost, or blunders onto the wrong runway or taxiway. In addition, a wrong turn or navigation blunder may cause delays for other aircraft at the airport. The problem is more significant at large airports and is particularly significant at night when the multitude of lights can make it more difficult to taxi the aircraft to the desired destination.
Efficient taxi operations save time and money. One feature of an airport surface guidance capability is the presentation of airport features such as runways and taxiways that are readily made available to the pilot. One approach to present such feature information is on a head-up display (HUD) that is displayed in the forward line of sight of the pilot looking out the front windshield of the aircraft. The pilot typically enters or selects a taxi path that has been approved by ground controllers. The taxi path or route is then displayed on the HUD. The pilot can view the features displayed on the HUD as being overlaid on the surface features the pilot can normally see through the windshield. The airport features may give a pilot situational awareness of where the aircraft is relative to the selected taxi path. However, the use of conformal depictive symbology alone on a HUD for aircraft surface operations in reduced visibility and/or low ambient light situations does not provide sufficient cueing for precise expeditious movement of the aircraft to and from the active runway along a clearance issued taxi path.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved method and system of aircraft surface operations guidance on a head up display.